100% MONEY BACK GUARANTEE

If within 120 (one hundred twenty) days of your purchase you are not satisfied that the product that you have bought improves your French language skills, we will refund you 100% of the purchase price.

French Christmas Dialogue (With Audio)

For the Holidays, Olivier and I recorded a realistic French Christmas dialogue to introduce you to both the French traditions and precise French vocabulary used in around Xmas in France. This post comes with audio. Enjoy, and happy holidays!

Why not :-) Usually, we celebrate St Nicholas’ day, on the 6th of December. My family originates from Alsace, and it’s the tradition to exchange gifts on St Nicholas’ day over there, and to save Christmas day for strictly religious matters.

Well, traditionally in France, we have a big meal after the midnight mass, late into the night, that is called “the awakening”. But nowadays, fewer and fewer people attend the mass. Therefore, for practical reasons, we often celebrate Christmas the day after: Children open the presents in the morning, and the whole family gets together for the holiday luncheon. In Olivier’s family, they celebrate both.

Yes. We get together on the 24th in the evening, we have a simple but nice dinner, and sometimes we all attend Christmas mass. I don’t practice religion, but it’s more for the traditional aspect that I go. I remember really magical midnight mass, with live nativity scenes, parades of children costumed as angels, music and many songs and candles everywhere.

Then, it’s on the 25th that we do the traditional French Christmas meal: we all dress to the nines, we eat foie gras, oysters, smoked salmon, a turkey with chestnuts or a roasted ham, and for dessert, a yule log. And of course, we drink good wines and champagne.

It’s a cake shaped as a log, which refers to the antique tradition to burn a symbolic log during 3 days around Christmas. There are many traditions like this one, often regional, but that we don’t quite follow any longer nowadays.

Camille
Oui, Leyla a 5 ans et c’est une petite fille très moderne: elle nous a dit l’autre jour qu’elle voulait écrire un email au Père Noël… Je peux te dire qu’on a bien rigolé !!Yes, Leyla is 5 and is a very modern little girl: the other day, she told us she wanted to write Santa an email… I can assure you we had quite a laugh!

Then, for the presents, traditionally it’s in the morning of the 25th. Santa comes during the night, and leaves the presents in shoes displayed around the hearth. Well, but nowadays since there are no more fireplaces in houses or apartments, presents are usually placed under the Christmas tree. We let the children open one or two presents in the morning, and we wait for the whole family to get here to open all the presents… or something along those lines… in other words, we do our best to please everybody and leave a small place for Santa. What about you Pierre, what are you doing this year for the holidays?

Yes, like all pupils, she has a 2 weeks vacation. In general, in France, December 25th and January 1st are official holidays. But if it happens to fall on a Thursday or a Tuesday, then the French take the in between days off.

If you enjoy this kind of bilingual story, check out French Today’s downloadable French audiobooks: French Today’s bilingual novels are recorded at different speeds and enunciation, and focus on today’s modern glided pronunciation.

You Might Also Enjoy...

Camille Chevalier-Karfis

Born and raised in Paris, I have been teaching today's French to adults for 20 years in the US and France. Based on my students' goals and needs, I've created unique downloadable French audiobooks focussing on French like it's spoken today, for all levels. Most of my audiobooks are recorded at several speeds to help you conquer the modern French language.
Good luck with your studies and remember, repetition is the key!